Here are 11 of the most significant technological developments and innovations in cycling over the past 2 years, from 2022-2024:

1. Wireless electronic shifting
   The latest wireless electronic groupsets from Shimano and SRAM have made setup and customization easier than ever. Shifters communicate wirelessly with derailleurs, eliminating the need to route shift cables through frames. Customizable button functions and shift modes can be configured via smartphone apps.
2. Integrated cockpits
   More bikes are being designed with integrated bar/stem combos that route brake hoses and any shift wires internally for an extremely clean front end. This improves aerodynamics and gives bikes a sleek, high-tech look.
3. Disc brakes as the new standard
   Disc brakes have become ubiquitous on road, gravel, and mountain bikes in the past few years. Their superior stopping power, modulation, and all-weather performance have made rim brakes nearly obsolete on performance-oriented bikes.
4. Tubeless tire technology
   Road tubeless has finally reached maturity, with a wide range of wheel and tire options now available. Tubeless allows lower pressures for improved comfort and traction, while reducing flats. The latest tubeless road tires roll as fast as the best clinchers.
5. Wide-range 1x drivetrains
   On gravel and mountain bikes, simplified 1x drivetrains with wide-range cassettes have largely replaced front derailleurs. 12-speed groups from Shimano and SRAM offer gear ranges previously only possible with double chainrings.
6. Suspension for gravel
   Advances in short-travel suspension forks and stems are bringing a new level of capability and comfort to gravel bikes on rough terrain. The Fox 32 AX fork and RedShift ShockStop stem are leading examples.
7. Smart bike trainers and e-racing
   The popularity of indoor cycling exploded during the pandemic. The latest smart trainers offer highly realistic road feel, while virtual platforms like Zwift have made e-racing a new cycling discipline. Riders can precisely structure their training and compete with others around the world.
8. Aero sensors
   Devices like the Notio Konect and Velocomp AeroPod directly measure a cyclist's CdA (aerodynamic drag coefficient) in real-world riding conditions. This allows riders to optimize their position and equipment without expensive wind tunnel testing.
9. 3D-printed saddles
   Specialized and Fizik have released 3D-printed saddles that can be customized to a rider's anatomy and sit bone width. Intricate lattice structures only possible through 3D printing provide targeted flexibility and support zones.
10. Lightweight e-road bikes
    The latest e-road bikes from brands like Specialized and Trek closely resemble traditional road bikes in weight and appearance. With motors and batteries integrated into the frame, these bikes provide subtle assistance up to 28 mph while still feeling agile and natural to ride.
11. Gravel suspension seatposts
    The Cane Creek eeSilk, Redshift ShockStop, and others are short-travel suspension seatposts designed to take the edge off rough gravel roads. They reduce fatigue by isolating the rider from high-frequency vibrations and impacts.
In summary, the past two years have seen rapid advancements in electronic shifting, all-road capabilities, aerodynamics, indoor training, and comfort through smart use of new materials and manufacturing techniques. These innovations are making cycling more enjoyable and accessible for riders of all types.

Trademark filing without an Attorney

Trademark Filing with an Attorney

Filing a trademark with the assistance of an attorney can significantly enhance the chances of a successful registration and provide comprehensive legal protection for your brand. Here’s an overview of how the process typically works when you hire an attorney:

Step-by-Step Process of Trademark Filing with an Attorney

Initial Consultation

Purpose:

• To discuss your business, brand, and trademark goals.
• To understand the specific goods or services you intend to offer under the trademark.

What Happens:

• You provide details about your brand name, logo, slogan, or other marks you wish to register.
• The attorney explains the trademark process, associated costs, and the services they will provide.

Trademark Search and Analysis

Purpose:

• To identify any potential conflicts with existing trademarks.
• To assess the registrability of your mark.

What Happens:

• The attorney conducts a comprehensive search of trademark databases (USPTO, WIPO, etc.).
• A detailed report is prepared, highlighting any similar or conflicting trademarks.
• The attorney provides recommendations based on the search results, which may include suggestions for modifications to the mark to avoid conflicts.

Trademark Application Preparation

Purpose:

• To ensure the application is accurately and comprehensively prepared.

What Happens:

• The attorney drafts the trademark application, including a precise description of the goods or services associated with the mark.
• You review the application to ensure all information is correct and complete.
• The attorney advises on the appropriate filing basis (e.g., use in commerce, intent to use).

Filing the Application

Purpose:

• To officially submit your trademark application to the relevant trademark office (e.g., USPTO).

What Happens:

• The attorney files the application electronically with the trademark office.
• Filing fees are paid, and a confirmation of the filing is received.

Application Monitoring

Purpose:

• To track the status of your application throughout the examination process.

What Happens:

• The attorney monitors the progress of the application and keeps you informed of any updates.
• If the trademark office issues an office action (a formal letter citing issues or objections), the attorney will review it and advise on the best response.

Responding to Office Actions

Purpose:

• To address any objections or requirements raised by the trademark examiner.

What Happens:

• The attorney prepares and files a response to the office action, providing arguments or additional evidence to overcome the objections.
• If necessary, the attorney may make amendments to the application to meet the examiner’s requirements.

Publication for Opposition

Purpose:

• To provide public notice of your trademark application and allow third parties to oppose the registration if they believe it infringes on their rights.

What Happens:

• The trademark office publishes the application in its official gazette.
• The attorney monitors the opposition period (typically 30 days) to see if any oppositions are filed.
• If an opposition is filed, the attorney will represent you in opposition proceedings, presenting arguments and evidence to defend your application.

Registration

Purpose:

• To finalize the trademark registration if no oppositions are filed or if oppositions are resolved in your favor.

What Happens:

• The trademark office issues a certificate of registration, officially granting you exclusive rights to use the trademark in connection with the specified goods or services.
• The attorney provides you with the certificate and advises on how to properly use the trademark symbol (®) to indicate registered status.

Post-Registration Services

Purpose:

• To ensure ongoing protection and compliance with trademark laws.

What Happens:

• The attorney provides guidance on proper trademark usage to maintain its validity.
• Regular monitoring services can be set up to watch for potential infringements.
• The attorney assists with trademark renewals, which are typically required every 10 years.
• If any infringement is detected, the attorney can take legal action to enforce your trademark rights.

Benefits of Using an Attorney for Trademark Filing

1. Expert Guidance:

   • Attorneys have specialized knowledge and experience in trademark law, ensuring that your application is correctly prepared and filed.

2. Comprehensive Search and Analysis:

   • Attorneys conduct thorough searches to identify potential conflicts and provide strategic advice on the best way to proceed.

3. Accurate and Complete Applications:

   • Attorneys ensure that all necessary information and documentation are included in the application, reducing the risk of delays or rejections.

4. Efficient Handling of Office Actions:

   • Attorneys effectively respond to office actions, using their legal expertise to overcome objections and meet requirements.

5. Representation in Opposition Proceedings:

   • Attorneys represent you in opposition proceedings, providing legal arguments and evidence to defend your application.

6. Ongoing Legal Support:

   • Attorneys offer post-registration services, including monitoring, enforcement, and renewals, to ensure continued protection of your trademark.

Conclusion

Filing a trademark with the assistance of an attorney provides significant advantages, from initial consultation and search analysis to application preparation, monitoring, and post-registration support. An attorney’s expertise can navigate the complexities of trademark law, increase the likelihood of successful registration, and provide robust protection for your brand. This ensures that your intellectual property is safeguarded, allowing you to focus on building and growing your business with confidence

The lowest-cost trademark application option from TrademarKraft provides a trademark application without an attorney. The direct-hit search identifies any trademarks that will block your application, and the application is reviewed for common problems that could prevent your trademark registration. Then the application is monitored as it goes through examination.

TrademarKraft can also enforce your trademark online against trademark abuse by your competitors, using the DMCA Takedown Notice Process, your trademark and copyright to prevent the unauthorized use of your trademark online.

A cheap trademark filer for tech companies and start-ups

We recently posted on trademark companies that are able to serve the tech sector and start-ups without an attorney and the costs that an attorney brings. Here is another one: TrademarKraft provides cheap trademark applications, reviews the trademark for common errors like descriptiveness or being a surname. After you approve or your trademark application and review the direct-hit search results, they will file the trademark for you. 

Looks like it contains a variety of trademark services for one cheap price. I think it will be worth checking out if you are in the market for a trademark. www.trademarkraft.com.

For trademark applications at a reasonable price, check this out!

Trademarkraft (trademark lawyer) is now filing trademarks for the public, at a reasonable price. California Trademark Attorney Nyall Engfield, with over 10 years experience in trademarks, can help you directly with protecting your brand name. Trademark attorneys with experience at a reasonable price are hard to find!

Nomad is focused on filing and prosecuting trademarks before the USPTO, in Canada and worldwide through the Madrid Protocol Trademark Filing System. Once your mark is registered, Nomad also helps with trademark monitoring services to provide you with regular updates on the use of your trademark by competitors.

New indoor cycling training aid - first person video and dashboard

In the cold Canadian winter, there aren't as many chances to get out and peddle as we would like, but keeping the cycling up is key to keeping in shape and hitting the spring in good form. Recently Ride Fit (www.ride-fit.com) has come out with a new series of virtual indoor cycle training videos that provides a more interesting indoor cycling experience.  To provide the most realistic virtual cycling experience possible, Ride Fit videos are shot from the first person perspective so that users feel like they are on the road.  Shown below, a simple on-screen digital dashboard also provides critical workout information (such as target resistance, cadence and effort level) and a terrain profile with progress indicator shows the user where they are and what’s coming next so rides can be paced appropriately.

Winter Cycling in Sidney BC

Forget windchill. Leave your fears of black ice behind. Travel to beautiful Sidney-by-the-Sea this winter, and ride your bike every day along nearly 400 kilometers of cycle lanes and bike paths. The Victoria region features two cycle routes intended especially for bike commuters. One of which, Lochside Trail, follows an old tramline right-of-way from downtown Victoria to Sidney, and eventually the Swartz Bay ferry terminal and the marine highway linking the Island to the mainland and Vancouver.

For cyclists, Sidney may be the ultimate place in Canada to spend the winter. Besides easy access to Lochside Trail, there are cafes, art galleries, at least half a dozen bookstores, and Russ Hay's one of Victoria's oldest independent bicycle shops. "Resort" hotels like the Cedarwood also offer winter packages for cyclists and others looking to escape the freezing temperatures and enjoy average winter temperatures of 10 degrees Celsius. Easy access to more than 30 regional parks, 26 18-hole golf courses, and even skiing on slopes enjoying some of the highest annual snowfall in the world. Perhaps the perfect bicycling and skiing vacation!

Sidney BC, often overshadowed by Victoria to the south, is ideal as a beautiful, low-traffic seaside resort that acts as a gateway to Victoria's hundreds of kilometers of bikable surface, as well as Vancouver, the Gulf Islands, and Washington State.

For more information, contact the Cedarwood. Plan a long term stay in Sidney this winter.

Facebook committed to bicycle commuting in expanding its HQ

Facebook is moving to Stanford Research Park, and expanding to accommodate 9,000 employees from the current 1,500. In doing so, Facebook also aims to encourage bicycle commuting, a more pleasant and environmentally-friendly way to get to work. Buildings will have showers with towels, bike storage and lockers and bike lending services. Most of all, an on-site "Bike Doctor" is there to repair and maintain the commuters' bikes in good order.

More women than men commuting by bike in Netherlands, Japan

In Netherlands, Denmark and Japan, women comprise more than 50% of the bike commuters. In other countries, such as Australia, Canada and the US a much smaller proportion cycle.

It is believed that women are more sensitive to safety and convenience issues than men when it comes to bicycling. If cycling is made safe and convenient, as in Europe and Japan, then perhaps more women will participate in North America and Australia.

When cycling is encouraged as an everyday transport, with safe bike lanes and more upright bicycles, with a greater carrying capacity, then it seems more accessible for women of all ages. Sport bikes, common in North America and Australia, have a more bent over posture, which encourages young men and women but not older ones. Read more here. Or contact the author.

Velomobiles

Velomobiles are recumbent bicycles with a fairing out of carbon fiber or fiberglass. The wind-cheating designs are intended to allow the rider to travel a longer distance more efficiently. Riders say it doesn't get hot inside, as there are vents spread out over the fairing to provide cooling breezes.

Velomobiles have been around since 1945 and, for a while, were beating the best bicycle racers. So the French outlawed recumbents in favour of the upright bicycle designs that we see today.

Due to the fairing, velomobiles can cost from $8,000 to $13,000. They may, however, be the future of transit with their high-level of efficiency. Velomobiles are gaining in popularity; recently a number of them descended on Ft. Wayne, TX. Read more here.

Cycling in Tokyo increases since Earthquake

An increased interest in cycling in Tokyo has manifested itself in the wake of the March 11 Earthquake. It is a great way to see the city while getting fitter.

There are a few clubs for cycling in Tokyo: Half-fast is open to everyone and tries to communicate in both Japanese and English. They have two standard eginner routes, one to the beachfront at Odaiba and one to a park near Haneda airport. Any bike is acceptable but the Half-fast club recommends a road bike with a carbon-fibre frame, for ease of carrying on and off trains.

Read more here.

New underground bicycle parking hits japan

Now that bicycle commuting has become so much more popular, parking is becoming an issue. We have seen huge bicycle parking lots full of bikes, but this is taking up key space in downtown squares:


The Japanese have found a solution with the Ecocycle underground bicycle storage system. At a cost of around $30 per month, you can park is a safe, dry place, and retrieve the bicycle when required for the trip back!

Bike lane above traffic for cycle commuting in cities

A new design for a bicycle lane above the traffic comes from Bulgarian architect Martin Angelov. The "bike lane" is actually a steel U-shaped wire that is connected across distances, and the bike's tires fit into the U. There is also a stabilizing wire that connects to the handlebars, or rider, to keep the bike and rider from falling off.

This type of system would provide a safe bicycle lane in congested cities, with a smaller infrastructure and space investment than is required for bike lanes. It would also provide a scenic, traffic-free tourist attraction!

Most obese states also bicycle the least

Thirty-one U.S. states now have adult obesity rates above 25 percent, and four states have surpassed 30% obesity. Alabama and Mississippi count among the fattest, and only 0.1 percent of the population bicycle-commutes. The most fit state, Massachusetts, has a bicycle commuting rate of 0.5%. Oregon tops the chart for bicycle commuting at 1.7% of the population, and unsurprisingly is also one of the fittest states.

RONA MS Bike Tour in Ontario to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis

There are five bike tours held in Ontario this year to benefit MS, ranging from 30 to 190 km. They are for all ages, and food and beverages are supplied as well as cyclist support vehicles. Best of all, to reward all that hard work, the finish line has a BBQ and massage for those aching muscles. This year the tours take place between July 25 and September 13. Find out more at the MS Bike Tour Blog.

Global Ride wins with indoor training DVD set

Global Ride has scored a hit for all of us who train indoors on rainy days or in the winter, with its new DVD set for indoor training. Each video is about 50 minutes of warm-up, workout and cool-down, all taking place on various scenic roads throughout Hawaii. The international spin instructors(professional Australian, American and Italian coaches) also help set the pace, encouraging you to give your all but at the same time pacing your performance throughout the 50 minute session. Cool house and trance tracks energize you as you cycle, providing a beat to pedal to.
The screenshots above show the video, always from a cyclist's viewpoint, and moving along at the cyclist's pace. The camera speeds up, for instance, when the road is descending, so it gives a real impression that you are actually there! This DVD set is great for the winter too, as a bit of escape to tropical Hawaii. The next step is to automatically vary the cycle trainer's resistance from the DVD itself, as the virtual cyclist passes along the coastline of Hawaii.

Global Ride's website here.

London bike-sharing locations revealed

Londoners will enjoy access to about 6,000 bicycles across nine boroughs in a bicycle-sharing scheme similar to Vélib in Paris. Among the planned locations are Spitalfields Market, Edgware Road, Park Lane, Baker Street and Soho Square. The scheme should increase bicycle trips by 400 percent by 2025. Mayor Boris Johnson hopes the system will be operating by next May. He had this to say:

"I pledged to deliver a cycling revolution across the city, and there is now a growing excitement about our cycle hire scheme, which will give all Londoners the opportunity to hop on a bike and experience the joys of cycling. Much like hailing a cab, people will be able to pick up one of 6,000 bikes, and zip around town to their hearts' content - not only a quick, easy, and healthy option, but one that will also make London a more liveable city."

Car-free cycling in San Francisco

This Sunday, cyclists will be able to cycle car-free in the streets along the Embarcadero in San Francisco, allowing miles of streets dedicated to cyclists and pedestrians. What freedom, owning the streets and not having to worry about cars! There are activities for kids, especially those trying to kick training wheels and get up on two on their own. Many people are also taking the opportunity to see areas of the city that they rarely see.

Awesome Freestyling! Inspired Bicycles rider Danny MacAskill in April 2009

Check out the moves on Danny! I pronounce MacAskill MacA**kicking instead.

Ireland aiming to be most cyclist-friendly country by 2020

The National Cycle Policy Framework was launched yesterday with the goal of increasing the people who cycle to work every day fourfold from current numbers by 2020. Plans include retrofitting roads with cycling lanes, introducing traffic-calming measures and bike-friendly road designs. It also allows bikes to be carried on public transit and encompasses public sharing of bikes like the Parisian Vélib scheme.

Cross-Ontario cycling record attempt

Ross Rader is attempting to beat the cross-Ontario cycling time record of 35 hours and 43 minutes set in 1987. The route starts in Ottawa, and passes through Kingston, Toronto, Brantford and London on the way to conclude in Windsor after approximately 800 kilometers. All proceeds are going to the Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation.

For more info visit Ross's website.